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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Boston Common Renovation!

If your regular commute brings you by the Boston Common, like mine and Aaron's does, then you're probably wondering why there is suddenly a huge fence that stretches from the head houses at the Park Street station up through the liberty mall to the edge of Beacon Street and closes off everything in between.

When I first got back from Spring Break I was very annoyed that these fences were impeding my morning walk to class. When I found out what they were for though I figured I could deal with them for a little while. Well here's whats happening!

Thanks to the Friends of the Public Garden the Common will be getting a well needed, 1.5 million dollar facelift. The 1.5 million will pay for a lot of great upgrades. All of the cracked concrete and pavement in the Liberty Mall will be replaced with new granite pathways and edges. Old decaying trees will be cut down and replaced with new ones. The amount of green space in this area of the Common will be almost doubled. An extensive sprinkler system will also be installed in order to keep the lawns looking lush and beautiful. Much like the Rose Kennedy Greenway, 80% of the common will have access to free WI-FI service. The largest advancement for the entire project though, is the addition of a stand/building that will serve as a reading room and a rental station. The building will hold magazines, newspapers, and about 400 books, along with rentals of checkers and chess sets. There will also be lots of moveable tables, umbrellas, and chairs to give people a nice place to relax. Visitors of the common may also be able to enjoy free music which will be played by a professional pianist on a custom built piano for the Common! Another thing that is in the works for this project is to get a high end gourmet food truck that will serve this new revitalized area.

This is a little blurry, but you can get the gist of it.

The Common isn't the only thing that is getting a facelift though. The MBTA is also funding a large elevator installment and renovation at the Park Street station. This $8.7 million project will install two brand new elevators in the station. One will go from the Common to the Green Line westbound platform and the other will go from the Green Line westbound platform to the center platform of the Red line.

All of of the renovations to the Common and to the Park Street station are said to start by the end of this week and hopefully end by the beginning of August. If all goes according to plan college students and tourists alike should have a very nice and relaxing place to spend their time!